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Is This The Year Of Software-Defined Storage?

If there were such a device as a “hype-o-meter,” readings for the terms “software-defined storage” (SDS) and “software-defined data center” (SDDC) would be off the dial of late. That’s why many in the tech industry believe 2014 is turning into the year of SDS — the point when it finally takes hold and achieves critical mass in the enterprise.

“Software-defined storage is certainly a major trend for this year,” says Mike Karp, an analyst for IT analyst firm Ptak Associates.

Interior of server in data center (Photo source: iStock)

However, many users are struggling to understand what it really is. And they aren’t being helped by some of the vendor marketing that is going on.

“Some vendors are repositioning their existing offerings as SDS,” says Amitabh Srivastava, president of EMC’s Advanced Software Division. “But users are growing wary of old products being rebranded as software defined.”

SDS takes storage to the next step beyond virtualization. In virtualization, a software-based abstraction layer is placed on top of physical storage hardware, allowing one storage array to appear as if it were several different boxes. This effectively combines those storage arrays into one large pool of capacity far larger than what one physical box can provide.

Now take that a stage further. SDS goes beyond virtualization of merely the capacity by virtualizing additional storage capabilities such as deduplication (preventing storage and backup of the same files over and over again), backup, disaster recovery and data replication.

Srivastava explains that in a software-defined world, users are free to combine storage arrays and servers from a wide selection of vendors and manage them centrally via software. Instead of having to harness several management consoles as a user transitions from one vendor platform to another, a user can see everything in one place and perform tasking such as data migration, storage provisioning (allocating storage for users and applications) and data protection in far less time.

The benefit? Adding the software layer lets companies get more mileage out of their storage systems while providing easier, more comprehensive system management.

“SDS can enable data centers to rapidly implement different levels of data protection according to the data’s perceived value by automating that protection across the enterprise, regardless of the underlying hardware infrastructure,” says Karp.

Part of the need for SDS is the sheer complexity of modern storage environments. It is unrealistic to ask a storage manager to manage petabytes of information contained in isolated silos of capacity, each demanding their own forms of management, maintenance and provisioning.

The centralization and virtualization capabilities of SDS enable a smaller team to manage a lot more storage.

Some IT managers, though, may look with horror at the idea of having to corral a heterogeneous storage environment into one homogeneous pool, reconfiguring each individual machine and then laying a software-defined layer on top of everything. Fortunately, the technology itself simplifies the process. Vendors are now packaging SDS with pre-built appliances. For example, the box itself can discover the various hardware elements within the network and walk users through the steps of creating a software-defined infrastructure. Users also have a choice of how they want to deploy it.

“Software-defined storage is becoming available that can run on any commodity hardware and also as an appliance with software pre-packaged with commodity hardware,” explains Srivastava.

How about cost? While Srivastava calls attention to reduced operating costs, Karp homes in on the value of SDS as regards the upfront costs of building a storage network. However, until the technology matures, he is concerned that the downstream costs may be difficult to predict.

“In a great many cases, software-defined storage will be cheaper in terms of initial storage costs,” says Karp. “But it would be naïve for an IT manager to fail to consider costs over the entire lifecycle of the infrastructure.”

Yet with more vendors entering the fray, the software-defined world is likely to follow a similar trajectory to that of virtualization. Initially, users of VMware’s virtualization technology were tech-savvy individuals who could wrap their wits around the peculiarities of a brand new and immature technology. But over time, the process of virtualization became more and more standardized to the point where a lot of the work is automatically done. The latest SDS offerings hold similar promise.

Drew Robb is a freelance writer living in Florida specializing in technology and engineering. Originally from Scotland, he has a degree in Geology/Geography from the University of Strathclyde. He is the author of Server Disk Management for Windows Systems by CRC Press.

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